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Spoilers Marvel Cinematic Universe spoiler-heavy speculation thread

What grade would you give the Marvel Cinematic Universe? (Ever-Changing Question)


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Huh, didn’t occur to me until now but maybe making him a person of color was at least partly to get around the potential yikes of the whole “white guy worshipped as an Egyptian pharaoh” deal…

Hm, conceivably. But Majors was apparently their only candidate for the role based on his performance in an earlier film, so there's no basis for assuming that they were looking specifically for an actor of color, rather than just wanting to work with an actor they admired whose ethnicity was beside the point.


TOS Klingons never looked Asian to me though

Well, the TOS Klingons were based on 1960s American conventions of "yellowface" or "brownface" makeup to make white actors look Asian or otherwise "exotic," which never really looked that much like the ethnicities it professed to approximate. Makeup artist Fred Phillips and John Colicos (Kor) basically improvised the makeup design together, using the "space Mongol" idea as a starting point and giving it a greenish-brown skin tone to look more alien. James Blish's novelization of "Errand of Mercy," based on the script, describes the Klingons as being of "Oriental stock."
 
Yes, it is a present day slur against Afrocentric black people, pushing the myth of black people (particularly those allegedly from sub-Saharan Africa) being eternally "less than" / having no connection to the supposed "superior" people/nations of Africa (almost always ancient Egyptians), couched in the imagery and language of White Supremacy marketed for centuries (especially in the West).

I have no reason to believe Disney would ever acknowledge similarity in spelling / pronunciation between the comic/MCU character's name and the slur. It would be interesting to read Disney's reaction if the matter was brought to their attention.

Isn't the reason it is a slur is because how it is written, when read aloud, is a stereotypical way of saying the phrase.


That was obviously not intentional, and to my knowledge, at least not a big association until it became an internet meme.

It seems more like an association that really shouldn't be...it's kind of like the Korean K-Pop group 2NE1's song "I AM THE BEST" which they sing in Korean as "naega jeil jal naga"... but some people hear the "n word" in that phrase,

Odd to hear that "Kang" is becoming a slur against African-Americans, given that Lee & Kirby's choice of Kang as a villain name, like Star Trek's use of it as a Klingon name in "Day of the Dove," was probably influenced by the pervasive Yellow Peril trope of Asian-coded villains, like Fu Manchu and Ming the Merciless. Comics of the day had no shortage of such characters -- see the Mandarin and Fin Fang Foom, for example. So even a villain not specifically intended as Asian, like Kang, might still be given a Chinese-sounding name because it would've conveyed a sense of exotic menace to the (white) audience of the day.

I'd figured that the Kang character was far enough removed from the name's possible racial-stereotype influence that it wouldn't be an issue today, especially with a non-Asian actor playing the part. So there's quite an irony if it's become a slur from another direction altogether.

Of course, they could always just bring him back and call him Rama-Tut or Immortus, I guess.
It would be odd to hear if you aren't exposed to a variety of black culture. Understandable that it wouldn't be the first or second thing you can think of, but it is understandable if you heard the phrase out loud.

It reminds me of an incident when I was in high school. I was writing a school newspaper column. In that specific article, i complained about how at times the hallways were so crowded and complained to a teacher when i wrote something "Are black holes the problem?" -- meaning of course the interstellar phenomenon... but that student (who i never talked to or knew their name) misunderstood that as a complaint about black students.

Also, it's clear that Kang sounds Asian to some people today, including Marvel... otherwise the movie would not have been called "Kang Dynasty" -- a play on Tang Dynasty of China.. and possibly a reason why Destin Daniel Cretton wanted to directed (but exited that specific Marvel role last month)

Huh, didn’t occur to me until now but maybe making him a person of color was at least partly to get around the potential yikes of the whole “white guy worshipped as an Egyptian pharaoh” deal…

Or that he was the most qualified person for the job.
 
Also, it's clear that Kang sounds Asian to some people today, including Marvel... otherwise the movie would not have been called "Kang Dynasty" -- a play on Tang Dynasty of China.. and possibly a reason why Destin Daniel Cretton wanted to directed (but exited that specific Marvel role last month)

The title Kang Dynasty comes from a comic arc of that name, which was called that because it was literally about Kang establishing a dynasty. I never took it to be a deliberate Tang reference.
 
Huh they've already released a Teaser clip for What If...? Season 3 (ignore the thumbnail)

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Huh, that is surprising, especially considering the length of the clip. Even more surprising is the fact it was released a week ago and no one here noticed it until now. I wonder if this means they've already done a lot of work on season three and it'll get released far quicker than season two. Fingers crossed!

Curious how Bill Foster is some kind of law enforcement officer. I wonder what that's about. And a shame Alexei doesn't sound like he's voiced by David Harbour.
 
Episode titles have been leaked for X-men 97

https://twitter.com/CanWeGetToast/status/1739500144498712881


E1: To Me, My X-Men
E2: Mutant Liberation Begins
E3: Fire Made Flesh
E4: Motendo
E5: Remember It
E6: Bright Eyes
E7: Shine With Strength Reborn
E8: Tolerance is Extinction - Part 1
E9: Tolerance is Extinction - Part 2
E10: Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3



ucqlZwv.jpg
 
The titles feel like they're in the style of the original show's titles, right down to the 3-part finale. I don't suppose any of the original writers are returning, though.

"Motendo" suggests a video game-themed Mojo episode. I really hope I'm wrong about that, because I hate Mojo.

The character models are slightly revised from the original -- same clothes, but the faces are different enough that they kind of seem "recast." And some of the voices actually have been recast (Scott is now Ray Chase, Jean is Jennifer Hale, Gambit is A.J. LoCascio, Jubilee is Holly Chou, Magneto is Matthew Waterson). That'll take some getting used to. Although I imagine the returning actors will sound different after 30 years, which is probably why they recast several of them (though the surviving original actors are returning as different characters).
 
Odd to hear that "Kang" is becoming a slur against African-Americans, given that Lee & Kirby's choice of Kang as a villain name, like Star Trek's use of it as a Klingon name in "Day of the Dove," was probably influenced by the pervasive Yellow Peril trope of Asian-coded villains, like Fu Manchu and Ming the Merciless. Comics of the day had no shortage of such characters -- see the Mandarin and Fin Fang Foom, for example. So even a villain not specifically intended as Asian, like Kang, might still be given a Chinese-sounding name because it would've conveyed a sense of exotic menace to the (white) audience of the day.

I'd figured that the Kang character was far enough removed from the name's possible racial-stereotype influence that it wouldn't be an issue today, especially with a non-Asian actor playing the part. So there's quite an irony if it's become a slur from another direction altogether.

Of course, they could always just bring him back and call him Rama-Tut or Immortus, I guess.

It's the story of the ages. Assholes gonna asshole. :techman:
 
Isn't the reason it is a slur is because how it is written, when read aloud, is a stereotypical way of saying the phrase.

Like many words or phrases throughout history, subversive individuals have used both a written version of a word and its spoken form to serve the same, hate-based purpose. This is apparent to anyone ever hearing White Supremacists speak the phrase "we wuz Kangz".

That was obviously not intentional, and to my knowledge, at least not a big association until it became an internet meme.

Yet today it exists as a known phrase used to denigrate and belittle the historical interests and/or legacy of those of African descent. We're living in an era where words, phrases or appropriated meanings considered offensive have been removed from old books, bleeped from old movies broadcast on cable/streaming (despite some carrying warnings about content), etc., so in the (unlikely) event Disney dropped Kang for that reason (or renamed the character by his other identities dating back decades in the comics), it would not be an action without precedent.
 
With 2023 at an end, one of the most amusing occurrences of this year in the film industry is the Downfall of Marvel.

The failures of Quantumania, Secret Invasion, The Marvels, the behind the scenes drama (exposed in Joanna Robinson's Book and by the Trades), etc

This has been inevitable for a few years now.

I love sports and Marvel Studios was like a great team with an amazing coach and roster of players (for the First 10 years).

Then new people stepped in with unappealing ideas, pushing unappealing characters,...alienated the audience.. and here we are.


It's pretty damning that Marvel Studio's only real win of 2023 (Guardians 3) was made by the man who is now fronting the Distinguished Competition (DC). It's ultimately more of a win for WBD, while Marvel is still buried in corporate mismanagement.

I wonder if Daredevil Born Again will ever see the light of day..
 
Less complaining, more observing the reality of the situation.

I'm perfectly fine with Marvel (and Disney) in it's current state continuing to put out one failure after the next.

We'll always still have the first 10 years of Marvel Studios at it's peak. It won't get there again.

Never heard of that book, but I'm reading the preview now! :techman:

It's a pretty fascinating insight into the state of Marvel Studios post-Endgame. She's done her research. This talk about how they may pivot to 'Dr Doom' after the Jonathan Majors mess is playing out in real time.
 
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